I was 7 (Hi, the old guy is back), but there’s still no comparison, nor will there ever be.
I guess a hot goalie is the main ingredient to winning a gold medal. Some of those saves were beyond belief. But to me, the highlight of the morning was seeing the team have its photo taken with the uniform of the late Johnny Gaudreau and his two oldest children. I wasn’t chopping onions at the time, but it had the same effect. What did you think about the game?
I confess I did not see it in its entirety, but there is something very real about the “hot goalie” phenomenon in hockey that’s akin to a baseball pitcher getting locked in, seemingly taking over a game, and frustrating the opponent to no end. What Team USA did to honor Gaudreau and his family was truly special.
Should there be concern with finding a special teams coach this late after SB?
It’s not ideal, but once again some big news broke while I was away, so it’s good to know some traditions will never die. The timing is certainly a challenge, but there are still a lot of good coaches out there looking for their next opportunity. Maybe someone who wasn’t going to rise to the coordinator level until next year gets a shot ahead of schedule. We shall see.
Welcome back Mike! As a HC does MLF approach this season with excitement for the opportunity that comes with change or angst for the heavy lifting necessary to integrate so much “new” into an established program?
Some of both I’m sure, but I don’t think he sweats it either way. It’s the nature of the biz in the NFL and familiar territory for him. Gannon will be LaFleur’s fourth defensive coordinator and the new hire on special teams will be the fourth there as well. Both phases got a new coordinator at the same time in 2021 as well. This is nothing new.
Scott from Noblesville, IN
Compliments to all fans humble enough to realize our knowledge level truly IS “tip of the iceberg.” With all the new analytics, all I can claim is “fan since Lombardi era ignorance” – at best. So please help an old guy out and tell me if you believe, or if any modern analytics show, a correlation existing between off/def starters’ injuries and below average ST coverage/return performance in NFL rankings. It seems to me there would be when key ST players have to replace starters on off/def. Thanks.
I’ve never seen a specific analysis with all the data laid out. Intuitively, a domino effect of some sort would make sense. The best teams either get lucky on the injury front or simply overcome with depth, which is why no decision regarding the 90-man offseason roster, 53-man active roster or 16-man practice squad is ever taken lightly.
Now that we’re going to get a new special teams coach do you think we’ll keep our kicker or find a new one?
As Wes mentioned last week, Brandon McManus is due a roster bonus in mid-March, so that’s the first big decision. Gutekunst’s comments earlier this month would seem to indicate he’ll remain the incumbent and Lucas Havrisik will be the challenger.
Regarding our punt return problems, why did teams go away from having two returners line up for returns as they did in the past? Especially if you don’t have an All-Pro. It can’t be because you expect to block more punts, that only happens once every three years. The extra returner can block the gunner that gets loose for extra return yardage or keep the gunners from downing the bouncing punt inside the 10, etc. Seems like common sense, but I’m sure there is some analytics muddying the decision.
I’m no X’s and O’s expert, but I would imagine the rationale is that player is more useful on the outside as an extra blocker on a flyer (because it’s easier that block that guy before he gets up a head of steam) or in the box to guard against a fake.
A couple of years ago safety was a weak position on the team. A free agent signing (Xavier McKinney) and some smart drafting (Evan Williams and Javon Bullard) and now it’s one of the strongest positions on the team, if not the league. Which defensive position most lends itself to such a quick turnaround this year? Corner? D-tackle? Somewhere else?
CB and DT are the positions everyone’s watching closely, obviously. I could see both getting two-pronged attention – free agency and the draft – but whether any reinforcements will constitute a “turnaround” won’t be known until well into next season.
We often hear we should be grateful we’re not a perennial losing team. But that feels like settling. The GBP standard shouldn’t be “at least we’re not bad.” It should be championships. We’re also not KC, Philly, NE, or Seattle, all of whom have reached the SB three times since 2010. Why do we never hold the GBP to this standard? What if their process is the issue? Their process is not resulting in SB appearances. The achievements of KC, Philly, NE, and Seattle suggest it’s more than just luck.
If somebody wants to figure it out, be my guest. There’s no concrete formula, and searching for it feels futile to me. I put the overwhelming success of KC and NE mostly on their QB play. Two of the greatest to ever do it who rarely if ever missed the playoffs, played at home a ton in the postseason, and performed their best in many of the biggest moments. And obviously Mahomes is far from done. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, Seattle went 11 years between appearances in the NFC title game, had missed the playoffs entirely in three of the last four seasons, and got the most consequential and fortunate replay review of a two-point conversion, ever. Philly’s story is even more all over the board, from making a Super Bowl run with a backup QB, to knocking the 49ers QB out of an NFC title game, to getting a key third-down, red-zone sack in the snow to hold off the Rams. People will accuse me of oversimplification, but I believe every path to a championship is filled with moments that easily could’ve gone the other way. You have to make enough of those plays, and get enough luck on some of the others, to go all the way. A foundation of success followed by momentary failures doesn’t mean a “process” is inherently inferior or someone else has a different “standard.” That’s just not how I view it when the margins are forever small.